Do you ever find yourself working tirelessly towards a goal, yet never quite getting there? Spending hours upon hours practicing, but seeing little improvement? You're not alone. Many athletes fall into the trap of working hard, but not working with intention. In this blog, we'll explore how reverse engineering your baseball development can help you achieve your goals more efficiently and effectively.
As athletes, we all have goals we want to achieve. Whether it's pitching at a certain level, making a team, or throwing a certain velocity, we work tirelessly to achieve those goals. However, sometimes our efforts can fall short, and we find ourselves wondering why we're not making progress. That's where reverse engineering comes in. By starting at the end goal and working backwards, we can identify the steps needed to achieve our goals and make the most of our time and effort. In this blog, we'll walk you through the process of reverse engineering your baseball development and give you the tools you need to achieve your goals more efficiently and effectively.
Picture this actual scenario: a sophomore baseball player, with dreams of throwing 90 mph by his senior year of high school. He's putting in the hours, working hard every day, but is he really making the most of his time?
On the surface, it seems like he's doing all the right things. His parents are quick to brag about his work ethic, talking about the countless hours he spends at practice, travel ball, and with his personal trainer. But when you take a closer look, it becomes clear that he's not really doing anything that's directly related to his ultimate goal of throwing 90 mph.
During high school practice, he shares two batting cages with 30 other kids, plays catch, fields ground balls, and then heads home. His travel ball practice is pretty much the same routine. And when he works with his trainer, he spends most of his time doing bodyweight circuits, Bosu ball training, and rope circuits.
Now, don't get me wrong - these activities are all great if you're a mom looking to get into crossfit. But the question remains: how is any of this going to help him throw 90 mph?
This is where the concept of reverse engineering comes into play. Instead of simply going through the motions, our young baseball player needs to start with his end goal in mind and work backward to figure out what he needs to do to achieve it. So how do we reverse engineer our training?
Step 1: Identify Your Milestones
Start at the end. If his end goal was 90 mph, let’s start there. As you work backwards, it's important to identify the milestones you reached along the way. This could include things like velocity check points, being the ace on your high school team as a junior, and any weight room goals. By identifying these milestones, you can gain a better understanding of the steps needed to get to where you want to go.
Step 2: Assess Your Current Skill Set
The second step in reverse engineering your baseball development is to assess your current skill set. This can include things like your velocity, command, vertical jump, bench, and squat. Take note the qualities you do well compared to your peers and the qualities you lack. It maybe best to get an objective assessment as personal judgment may be skewed.
Step 3: Look at Your Current Performance
Once you have assessed your current skill set, it's time to look at your current performance on the field. What is holding you back from being successful? Oftentimes, we are so obsessed with finding success now that we fault sacrifice our future development. I’ll give you an example, if a 13-year-old can throw a curveball for a strike that is a quality pitch but lacks a fastball, their coach will solely depend on the curveball and never develop a fastball just so they can win their 13u travel ball games. It may make everyone feel great at that current moment, but if the athlete truly wants to develop into a quality college arm or further, then they must be comfortable failing at an early age.
Step 4: Analyze Your Time Spent
One of the most important factors in your baseball development is your time spent. Look back at how you’ve spent your time related to baseball over the years. Did you work with a hitting coach or a pitching coach for a lesson or 2 then participate in team practices not benefiting you? Did you lift and push yourself to become functionally stronger? An hour a day spent intently training is substantially better than 3 hours a day at meaningless practices.
Step 5: Work with a Mentor for Continued Development
Once you have a better understanding of your development, it's time to create a plan for continued improvement. Once you hit your goal you must understand what’s next. Use the information you gathered during the reverse engineering process to identify the areas where you need develop. Set specific goals for yourself and create a plan to achieve them. Once you hit your goal, it may be smart to start back at step 1 and align on new goals.
Ultimately, you can define a course of action and work towards it, or you can spend years spinning your wheels at let your dream fizzle out. The path to success is simple, not easy. However, there will be landmines planted on your path daily, it’s up to you and your coach to navigate that road. For guidance on your development, contact training@connected-performance.com